ODEM – The Skidmore-Tynan Lady Cats kept their slim playoff hopes alive with a five-set win over the Lady Owls on Tuesday night.

Odem came out ready to play and captured the first set 25-17 to take a 1-0 lead in the marathon.

“I think our nerves got the best of us, and we came out flat. Our girls did not give up or quit however,” said head coach Tim Stowe.

A timeout was called with the Lady Owls cruising 18-7, and Stowe urged his players to pick up the pace and gain some momentum for the rest of the match.

“How we end this set sets the tone for how we start the next one. We ended on a good note and had some momentum going into set two,” Stowe told his team.

The S-T girls did just that. They did not win the set but closed strong by outscoring the Lady Owls 10-7 down the stretch.

Set two had the Lady Cats jump out to an early 10-3 advantage, but the Owls refused to fly away. The set was tied at 15, and the Lady Cats needed a service break and a good run.

“They did just that. We broke serve immediately, and Dolores Jimenez ran off nine straight serves points for the win at 25-15,” Stowe said.

The third set was almost a carbon copy of the second. It was close, but Jimenez again came up big on serves with 10 points for the Lady Cats to help get the 25-17 victory. That gave the Lady Cats a 2-1 lead.

The fourth was another hotly competitive set. The home team took the lead early but could never get more than three or four points in front of the Lady Cats. The S-T girls pulled close, trailing by just one, 22-21, late in the set.

“We just could not get over the hump to close out the match,” Stowe said.

The Odem victory evened the match at 2-2 and called for a race to 15 points in the fifth set to decide the match.

The Lady Cats got off to a great start in set five, leading 7-0.

“We never looked back the whole game. We were able to close the game out with a middle attack from Amanda House,” Stowe said.

“She hit the spot on the court I’ve been riding her all year to hit.”

The final set went to the visitors 15-9.

“It’s great to be playing good ball at this time of the year. We still have playoff hopes. We will continue to work hard and get better,” Stowe said.

The victory improves the Lady Cats’ record to 11-16 on the year, and they stand 5-7 in district play, keeping their hopes up for the final playoff spot.

Amy Berthold led the team in kills with 19 over the five sets. Isabel Jimenez hit for nine kills, and House added eight kills to lead the offensive attack. Haley Scott put up 24 assists on the night, and Charli Perron contributed 21 assists. Dolores Jimenez came up with four digs while Isabel Jimenez blocked two Lady Owl hits. D. Jimenez and Scott served four aces each against the Odem girls.

No report was available on the JV match, but the S-T freshman girls lost their first district match in three sets. The young Lady Cats captured the first set 25-23 in a close battle. The Lady Owl freshmen then gained control and won sets two and three, 25-16 and 25-14.

The S-T girls now sport a 14-4 overall record and stand 6-1 in district play.

“Lauren Richmond played a good game tonight. She got the passes where we needed them, made some serves and hit the ball well,” said freshman coach Catherine Stowe.

The freshman squad will be back on the court on Tuesday for a match against Banquete.